The Finnish Voter Barometer surveys are commissioned by the major parties in the Parliament. In election years, other sponsors have also been involved. Up till 1988, the surveys were planned by Gallup Finland (TNS Gallup Ltd) and the Department of Political Science at the University of Helsinki, in collaboration with the political parties. After 1988, the planning has been in the hands of Gallup Finland and the parties.
From 1973 to 1990, the annual voter barometers were collected mainly with face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires, 1000-2000 interviews/barometer. Since 1991, the data have been collected with GallupChannel (PC's installed in respondents' homes). No surveys were conducted in 1985 and 1989.
Survey themes include voting behaviour, opinions on the government and the parties, and attitudes towards national political issues. In addition, respondents' economic expectations and political participation have often been studied, as well as their opinions on local politics, and the significance of the party leader to a party. Background variables have often included the social class of the respondent and the household head, economic activity of the household head, respondent's education, age, mother tongue, gender, party membership, political views, trade union membership, and family's annual income. There are also regional variables. Even though the variables are not always fully comparable from one survey to another, all kinds of comparisons over time are possible. The FSD collections cover data from 1973.
The survey studied Finnish political attitudes and opinions on political parties. Respondents were asked how favourable their opinion was regarding the Finnish Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party of Finland, the National Coalition Party, the Left Alliance and the Green League. A number of attributes were listed and respondents were asked to which party they could be applied. The respondents also assessed government performance.
Voting behaviour was studied by asking how tempted they would be to vote for different parties if the Parliamentary elections were held at the time of the survey and which party did they vote for in the 2003 Parliamentary elections. Respondents were presented with questions about the 2004 European Parliamentary elections, for example, are they going to vote in the next elections and which factors would increase their voting intention.
Background variables included respondents' year of birth, marital status, gender, household composition, household's annual gross income, type of accommodation, housing tenure, basic and vocational education, occupational group, industry of employment, employer type, trade union membership, political orientation on the left-right axis, self-perceived social class, and province, county and municipality of residence.
Multistage stratified sampling resulting in a fixed sample. The data have been collected with the help of GallupChannel telepanel (PCs and Internet terminals in respondent households.